A comment made to Latterday Lamanite's channel

Last night, he published this one about the angel visiting Alma.

Here is a comment I made: There are a cluster of false traditions in the LDS world around how faith works, particularly as applies to miracles as well as the mighty change of heart. The angel's visit to Alma is a great example of these ideas. So many LDS people shed so many tears wondering why angels don't visit their troubled family members in response to their prayers as an angel visited Alma junior because of Alma senior's prayers. Alma senior's prayer certainly had something to do with the angel visiting, but it was the circumstances of Alma junior that were the critical factor in the visit and especially in his experience during and after. Alma junior's faith is what made the difference. Alma junior was nothing like Korihor or Sherem in any way that matters. Alma had incredible faith, even while actively railing against the church. Faith is a principle that is practiced by a person in every aspect of life--not just their professed religious beliefs. A person's faith determines what they do and why they do it in all things. It is their adherence to rational evidence. In spite of having the father he did, Alma junior did not have sufficient reasons to believe the things his father believed. Was this because of Alma senior's past transgressions? Was it because Alma senior had so little personal revelation (the Lord told him that all he did in establishing the church came through faith in Abinadi's words, not additional revelation--see Mosiah 26:15). We do not know. But we do know that the angel did not save him. The angel simply provided greater evidence than he had received before. The angel came with two potential outcomes: stop attacking the church or be removed. Alma junior's torment was not forced upon him. He chose to respond to the extra evidence provided by feeling intense remorse and eternal fear. When Sherem received the sufficient evidence provided to him by Jacob, who served as an angel to him, he chose to not only ignore it, but provoke Jacob for an additional sign, resulting in his terminal immobilization. Only under this outward punishment--not through looking ahead in faith, but actual punishment--did Sherem confess his mistakes before dying. With Korihor, a similar pattern emerges as Sherem, except Korihor asks Alma to restore him to health. His reply is telling: "If this curse should be taken from thee thou wouldst again lead away the hearts of this people; therefore, it shall be unto thee even as the Lord will." (Alma 30:55) Sherem and Korihor were liars who had denied sufficient evidence. Alma was an honest man who had not yet received sufficient evidence adequate for his intelligence level. Alma junior didn't go from apostate reprobate to high priest and chief judge in just a few years because of the prayers of his father or the visiting angel. He was (and is) an absolutely exceptional person. If we want to be more like him, it requires us to be as responsive (in how instantly, intensely, and adequately we respond) to evidence as presented to us, not through having people pray for us, or praying for ourselves. Just as with the many who wish they would receive the mighty change of heart: the problem does not lie with what God or anyone else has yet to do, but in your failure to adequately respond to what you've already been given. To those who respond with heed and diligence, more will be given. To those who weep because God won't send their wayward children angels: He already has, and they have rejected them. Be glad that their rejection has not been against so great a messenger or as entirely as Sherem or Korihor, because if they are still alive, there is still a chance that the buffetings of the consequences of their choices will convince them beyond what they are willing to receive by precept.

Anyone who wants to learn more about faith might consider reading "Through Faith," a book I wrote, available for free in PDF and audio at upwardthought.org and at print cost on Amazon.